August sees the release of Chapter Two of Skid Row's three mini albums. It's a great way to keep fans entertained and to maintain the band's profile while they continue to tour extensively.

Following the same format as Chapter One, 'Rise Of The Damnation Army' has five new tracks and two blisteringly great cover versions. Opener 'We Are The Damned' is a surefire crowd pleaser, while track two, 'Give It The Gun' is an angry punk-edged rocker, which has Johnny Solinger sounding venomous throughout.

'Catch Your Fall' slows the pace a little with a tender moment that fails to live up to the power-ballad perfection of their early material, however the title track 'Damnation Army' is a slice of classic early Skid Row and will be a riot when played live. This is the best of the new tracks on the album for me.

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'Zero Day' is the last of the new material; it's a fresh crunching set of riffs and hardcore vocals, that sets up the two cover versions which close out the album: Aerosmith's 'Rats In The Cellar' and Queen's 'Sheer Heart Attack'.

Asked why they chose these two cover songs, the band stated: "These songs fit seamlessly into the subject matter of 'United World Rebellion: Chapter Two'. They both have that "get up and fight" attitude. These songs were from our youth and that meant a lot and as far as we know, no one has covered them and more important, the songs are still exciting and fit perfectly with the attitude of all other songs on the album."

Having just seen Aerosmith nail 'Rats In The Cellar' performing live at Clapham Common, I was dubious about this cover version because sometimes you just can't beat the original, but it works a treat. The band captures the soul of the track perfectly and it sounds fantastic.

'Rise Of The Damnation Army - United World Rebellion: Chapter Two', was released via UDR/ ADA/Warner on August 4th 2014 and is available as CD Digipack, 180 Gram Single Vinyl Gatefold and digital!

But what you really need to know is that Skid Row will be playing Camden's Underworld on 18th October.